Twenty-three teams are still in contention for Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. How exciting. Even the Saints (5-8) have a shot.

Among those teams that don't have a shot are the Philadelphia Eagles, a team I picked to go to the Super Bowl; the Carolina Panthers, a team with future MVP Cam Newton; and the Oakland Raiders, a team that I get to watch every day in practice and follow on their sad travels.

Bah, humbug.

Hey ... maybe now is a good, bitter time to hand out our Least Valuable Player award.

The runners-up are:

Jets quarterback Tim Tebow: Man, did ESPN get me excited over nothing. He never played! Even when Mark Sanchez got worse this season.

(Sanchez is not eligible because there has to be some semblance of hope or hype connected to you to be least valuable.)

Eagles quarterback Michael Vick: He got hit so early and often this season that it seemed to take away his decision-making ability. He looked lost at times. Makes you wonder if his season-ending concussion was really his first of the year.

Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: The real Kung-Fu Panda. He not only will blow his cool, but also doesn't seem to be the dominant force he was his rookie year or the leader the team hoped he would be.

Panthers quarterback Newton: Here's a man who sulked after some games and asked reporters to put tips in the suggestion box after one loss. The expectations were way too high coming off a six-win season, and they crushed the QB, but he is back to playing well and smiling again.

Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall: He could not get healthy, sulked, lost his starting job and then flat blew off Sunday's game. When the Steelers fall short in the playoffs, the extremely talented running back should feel responsible.

Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo: I know he gets hit a lot, but I think he has been miscast as an elite quarterback. And he is not a game manager, either, because those guys don't make mistakes that get you beat. He is a swinger, much like Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler, Carson Palmerand somebody else we'll get to later. You're going to have some fun with them, but you might not always look in the mirror and feel good about yourself.

Eagles cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha: He might have won the award, but there weren't really that many people outside of Oakland who thought the former Raiders defensive back was that great in the first place. Over the first 11 games - when Philadelphia still thought it was good - he surrendered 27 completions for 552 yards and five touchdowns. Only 10 corners in the league were worse. He avoided contact, looked slow and, worse, ESPN put together a reel that showed him dogging it and jogging on long offensive plays.

And the winner of the Least Valuable Player award is:

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers: He is 22-23 his past three seasons after a 46-18 start, and though everyone blames head coach Norv Turner, something is wrong with the quarterback. He has lost some velocity, which has made his habit of throwing the ball up for receivers to make a play not so cool anymore. He also seems to get flustered and make bad decisions more often. It looks like the players around Rivers, who was traded for Eli Manning, had more to do with that 46-18 record than he did.